The background of the invention is generally provided in the context of forest management. However, it is to be understood that forest management is merely one type of land management. Regarding forest management, historical land management practices have relied on data that contains an inherent amount of inaccuracy with regards to land boundaries, buffered areas, road utilization zones, and general forest area composition. The mechanisms for managing this inaccuracy and means for correcting it vary, and have included but not been limited to: United States Geological Survey maps, land ownership maps, traditional methods of surveying, collection of hand mapped GPS data, creation of boundary shape files utilizing remote sensing photographs and/or images. Remote sensing data utilized has included, but not been limited to: airborne and satellite based passive sensing utilizing electromagnetic wavelengths from the ultraviolet (UV−0.24 μm) through the far infrared (FIFR—1 mm) spectrum to create photographs and digital imagery as well as active sensors including, but not limited to airborne and satellite based RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging) and LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging).
Often land management data accuracy is corrected through remote sensing or hand mapping after practices such as a final timber harvest or thinning operations, which then show clearly the delineation lines such as boundaries, natural obstacles or out pieces, and environmentally sensitive areas. These practices, however serve as historical accounts of what has occurred, not what is occurring. This occurrence is in reference to management practices including, but not limited to timber harvesting and best management practices such as bulldozer work for remediation after harvest operations. These mechanisms for correcting the accuracy of land base data are often slow, costly and can be delayed by adverse weather conditions such as cloud cover in the case of remote sensing.
A major concern associated with delays in correcting management data, is subsequent operations that rely on this data and the potential economic and environmental impact of inaccurate information. With operations such as fertilization, competitive vegetation management, mechanical site preparation and planting, significant costs are incurred by the land owners or managing entities with each operation. For every acre of land that is improperly managed or accounted for, there is an associated cost. Sensitive areas such as streamside management zones (SMZ's) or protected wildlife areas may possess no potential economic return despite receiving additional inputs such as fertilizer or herbicide. Additionally, there may be negative environmental impacts such as surface water contamination with fertilizer or non-target injury of non-crop trees such as hardwoods in the SMZ.
Aside from the negative impacts associated with poor data in forest management activities, there exists the issue of improper asset valuation in timber stands derived from the classification of land as either productive “crop” areas or environmental management areas such as SMZ's. Additionally, certain areas within productive crop areas may have been damaged due to insect infestations, fires, or flooding, rendering them non-productive until the next crop rotation. Depending on the level and direction to which the information is skewed, this can dramatically impact investment firms, landowners, or individual investors in either a positive or negative direction with regards to the overall value of any particular owned quantity of land.
Furthermore, harvesting practices associated with timber production have suffered greatly in terms of production efficiency as a result of suppressed operator situational awareness in wooded settings. Due to the reduced sense of awareness an equipment operator may experience, with regards to his or her specific location within a defined parcel of property, a diminished level of equipment production efficiency as a result of the reoccurring act of identifying and verifying ones exact position or the direction in which to proceed with a prescribed activity. In other words, an operator may not be able to see the proverbial forest for the trees.
This level of confusion or inefficiency often results in, but is not limited to: the incomplete harvesting or maintenance of specified areas, inaccurate delineation of areas that are harvested, suboptimal layout and design of harvest or maintenance activities, incomplete harvest cycles with harvested timber not being retrieved for delivery to mills, inaccurate estimates of projected completion times, or improper allocation of logistics resources such as trucking.
Efforts to counteract the previously mentioned inefficiencies have included, but were not limited to the use of: printed paper maps comprised of remote sensing photogrammetry or imaging, existing shape files, digitized or hand drawn sketches placed in the possession of equipment operators, physical pre-operation site evaluations and orientations, utilization of colored paint or flagging for boundary identification, or point specific verbal and visual notifications conducted by the managing authority over specific properties. These solutions each contain a significant level of ineffectiveness due to errors in either information interpretation or the inability to transfer properly the actual physical location of an operator or equipment to the reference point on the associated support documents.
More specific to the logistics associated with product movement, estimates are made regarding the volume of product currently available for transport and then either turned into dispatch for transport resource allocation or a contract harvester utilizes one's own transport fleet. In terms of dispatch transportation the “estimation” often resulted in the inappropriate allocation of trucks for transporting the available product to processing centers which in turn results in increased transportation costs or decreased production at the harvest site with either too many or too few trucks being dispatched.
Therefore, it is a primary object, feature, or advantage to provide an on board operator interface with all available property parcel database information such that this is made available to equipment operators at the point and time of harvest.
It is a further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide real-time visual referencing of equipment and operators in relation to specified boundaries and any known or previously recorded features of any specified parcel of property.
It is a further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide real-time visual referencing and position of equipment and operators in relation to one another.
It is a still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a real-time display for equipment operators of the relative location of all electronically tagged ground personnel working in close proximity to forest management equipment.
Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide for real-time documentation and mapping of actual forest management events and activities.
A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide equipment operators with a GIS application.
Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide yield monitoring based on extrapolation or direct sensing to develop forest productivity models which may be used in developing maps for variable rate applications with regards to fertilization or herbicide applications.
Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a real-time data log, which may be used for determining the “actual” operational efficiency of equipment with regards to the performance of the exact task for which said equipment was designed vs. actual total time of operation over any pre or post determined period of time.
A further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide for estimated volume calculation of raw goods available for transportation at a centralized loading point in field locations on any specified parcel of property resulting from the data generated by the combination of the various systems on individual machines in a harvesting operation.
A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide real-time wireless or manual transfer of all available data between all operational aspects of land management which may include, but not be limited to, equipment operations, supervisory personnel, logistic activities, and central land management databases.
Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide real-time tracking and evaluation of all equipment and individuals associated with any specified forest management operation providing the ability to view and manage any combination of activities from a remote location in an effort to optimize the efficiency, profitability, quality, and/or safety of specified activities.
Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide reconciliation of paperwork associated with logistic processes such as transportation through the uses of all associated land base information which may include but not be limited to timber tract loading location(s), load numbers, mill destinations, time and date of origination, contractor information, landowner and manager information, and product type.
A further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide for product security through electronic tracking of transport equipment such as trucks with all associated product, land owner/manager, and contractor information tied to each specific load.
Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a simplified interface to a GIS application suitable for use when operating equipment which performs work operations on a land base.
One or more of these and/or other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description that follows. No single aspect or embodiment of the invention need exhibit every object, feature, or advantage set forth above.